1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to wireless telecommunications, and particularly to processes of obtaining resources of a wireless telecommunication system in connection with admitting and/or sustaining a call with a mobile user equipment unit (UE).
2. Related Art and Other Considerations
Cellular telecommunications systems employ a wireless link (e.g., air interface) between a (mobile) user equipment unit and a base station (BS) node. The base station node has transmitters and receivers for radio connections with numerous user equipment units. One or more base station nodes are connected (e.g., by landlines or microwave) and managed by a radio network controller node (also known in some networks as a base station controller [BSC]). The radio network controller node is, in turn, connected through control nodes to a core communications network. Control nodes can take various forms, depending on the types of services or networks to which the control nodes are connected. For connection to connection-oriented, switched circuit networks such as PSTN and/or ISDN, the control node can be a mobile switching center (MSC). For connecting to packet switching data services such as the Internet (for example), the control node can be a gateway data support node through which connection is made to the wired data networks, and perhaps one or more serving nodes.
A telecommunications connection between a mobile user equipment unit and another party (e.g., in the core communications network or another mobile user equipment unit) thus involves an uplink from the mobile unit through a base station and a radio network controller (RNC), and a downlink in the reverse direction. In some types of telecommunications systems, control and user information is transmitted in frames both on the uplink and downlink.
Typically the radio network controller (RNC) has complex processes for allocating resources for a call involving a user equipment unit (UE), including processes for allocating such resources as power, bitrate, etc. Generally, as the telecommunication system undergoes evolution from one generation to a more sophisticated generation, these processes must be overhauled for compatibility with the enhanced sophistication. Overhauling of the processes usually requires extensive revision of software and the like involved in these processes.
What is needed, therefore, and an object of the present invention, is capability for adding enhanced functionality to a telecommunication system without requiring fundamental revision of pre-existent processes.
A telecommunications system has a user equipment unit agent for each wireless user equipment unit with which a connection is to be established. The user equipment agent negotiates resources with a capacity management system for the prospective connection to be established with its corresponding user equipment unit. In the negotiation, the user equipment agent determines a number of purchase units expendable by the user equipment unit for the negotiation, and issues a resource request to begin the negotiation. Each resource has a resource unit price at which a unit of the resource is sold. In response to the resource request issued by the user equipment agent, connection resources are allocated to the user equipment unit in accordance with what the number of purchase units expendable by the user equipment unit can afford.
The resource unit prices for the resources are posted on a resource price list. The resource unit price for the resources is dynamically adjusted, e.g., in accordance with load on the telecommunication system. The resources can include such capabilities as transmission power, spreading code, bit rate, and a number of handover legs (for diversity purposes).
As one aspect of the invention, the total number of purchase units for a connection is utilized collectively by the user equipment agent to obtain resources for a connection. In another aspect, the number of purchase units expendable by the user equipment unit is classified into a number of purchase units expendable for each of the plural connection resources, and the resource request is processed on a per connection resource basis with respect to-the classification.
In one embodiment, after the resources are initially allocated, the user equipment unit agent re-negotiates for the respective resource. The user equipment agent can commence the re-negotiation either on its own initiative, or in accordance with a change in status in the telecommunication system. As a variation of this embodiment, a load manager can apprise the user equipment unit agent of a status change in the telecommunication system, so that the user equipment unit agent re-negotiates in response to the status change.
As a further aspect of the invention, the resource unit prices for the resources can be dynamically adjusted by an adaptive control system. The adaptive control system can be utilized to determine the load on the telecommunication system, with a change in load being used dynamically to adjust the-resource unit price for one or more of the plural connection resources. The adaptive control system can determine a predicted load on the telecommunication system by using a long term prediction profile and a short term prediction profile.